Teddy Bridgewater threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns, Melvin Gordon finished it off with a 70-yard TD and the Denver Broncos recorded a 27-13 victory over the host New York Giants Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.
Bridgewater delivered an extremely accurate performance in his Denver debut after winning the quarterback job from Drew Lock in preseason. He completed 28 of 36 passes and helped the Broncos maintain possession for just over 35 minutes
Bridgewater led lengthy drives all day and threw short TDs to Tim Patrick and Albert Okwuegbunam as Denver totaled 420 yards and 66 plays.
Gordon finished with 101 yards on 11 carries and his long run down the left side with 4:37 remaining gave the Broncos a 27-7 lead and sent many heading for the exits. Gordon’s big run occurred one play after New York rookie Aeeiz Ojulari was called for roughing the passer on Bridgewater.
The only bad news for the Broncos was losing receiver Jerry Jeudy to a lower leg injury with 8:50 remaining in the third quarter. Jeudy finished with six catches and 72 yards.
Denver linebacker Von Miller recorded two sacks and the NFL’s active sack leader raised his total to 108.
New York quarterback Daniel Jones completed 22 of 37 passes for 267 yards. He also had a rushing TD with no time remaining but Jones also fumbled deep in Denver territory late in the third. Denver took advantage as the next possession resulted in Brandon McManus’ second field goal.
Sterling Sheppard caught a 37-yard TD for New York, which got only 26 yards on 10 carries from Saquon Barkley in his return from a torn right ACL sustained last season in Chicago.
Denver’s first scoring drive lasted over nearly nine minutes and ended when McManus booted a 23-yard field goal.
Sheppard gave the Giants a 7-3 lead when he sped past Denver rookie cornerback Patrick Surtain II and ran down the left side of the field with 11:15 remaining in the second.
Denver regained the lead with an impressive drive that ended on Patrick’s two-yard TD with eight seconds left.
The Broncos took a 17-7 with 6:48 left in the third on 4th-and-1 when Bridgewater avoided a sack by Xavier McKinney and connected with Okwuegbunam, who dove headfirst and just got the ball over the right pylon.
The Giants had one more chance to inch closer but Denver’s defense stopped them deep inside the red zone when defensive back Kyle Fuller broke up a potential TD to Kenny Golladay on fourth down with 6 1/2 minutes left.
–Field Level Media